In a previous post, I wrote how farmers in rural Xinlian, China were organizing their own health care insurance collective. Now we learn of another rural health insurance program, this time put together by farmers in Wisconsin. The program is being touted as the first of its kind in the country and a possible model for others. It also promises cheaper rates and more health care coverage.
A University of Wisconsin survey quoted in the news report found that 18 percent of the state’s dairy farmers did not have health insurance, while 41 percent were not able to afford coverage for every member of their family. The new cooperative will initially offer coverage to some 72,000 Wisconsin farmers, with the federal government providing some support to get the program going.
While the cultural and economic differences between this effort and Xinlian’s are substantial, both are self-organized and are led by the folks who actually receive the care. These farmers may live worlds apart, but in these local social insurance experiments they sound almost like neighbors.
I’d love to see these new neighbors get together and talk about how they are trying to reshape health care in their rural communities. Maybe we all could learn something.
